A man threatened to bring a knife into a surgery held by MP Shailesh Vara and take a gun into Peterborough city centre and shoot people.

Wayne Stimson of Brewster Avenue, Woodston, was convicted after a trial at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Stimson (46) had denied making a phone and voicemail message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.

According to Mail Online, Stimson – who was previously barred from contacting pop star Robbie Williams or his staff following a hate campaign over the singer’s 1998 hit Millennium– had demanded to see the North West Cambridgeshire MP at a surgery meeting on September 29 last year but had been told there was no room.

Stimson is then said to have threatened to take a gun into Peterborough city centre and shoot people and threatened to bring a knife into the MP’s surgery. The website states that after being found guilty Stimson was given a 12 month community order and ordered to pay costs of £200 and a victim surcharge of £85.

There are heightened fears about attacks against MPs due to recent incidents, most tragically in the case of Jo Cox who was murdered in June 2016.

Fellow Labour MP Stephen Timms was also stabbed twice at a surgery in May 2010. Moreover, in America Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in 2011 while meeting constituents.

Mr Vara was first elected into his seat in 2005. As well as being an MP he is Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Northern Ireland Office.

His constituency covers large parts of Peterborough including the Ortons and Hampton, as well as some of the villages.